The granddaughter of Amelia Boynton Robinson confirmed to Troy Public Radio's Kyle Gassiott that Boynton Robinson died Wednesday morning after being hospitalized for suffering several strokes this summer.

Boynton Robinson was born in Savannah, GA and became a pioneer during the voting rights movement. She and other activists were attacked on "Bloody Sunday," as they tried to march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. She made history in 1964 as the first Black person to run for Congress in Alabama.

"Boynton Robinson asked Martin Luther King Jr. to come to Selma to mobilize the local community in the civil rights movement. She worked with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and helped plan the Selma to Montgomery march. Her role in the event was recaptured in the movie "Selma," where she was portrayed by actress Lorraine Toussaint. She was invited as a guest of honor to attend the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson."

Photo: Stacey Wescott/MCT /Landov

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